With the amount that Guy works, he should be able to assure a better life for his son, which is his real effort; instead, he is barely able to ensure his son's survival, and the only real purpose for ensuring this survival is so his son can provide the same bleak level of subsistence to his family in the future. This is a losing cycle and not one that actually ought to inspire any hope when fully examined and understood.
The hot air balloon serves as a symbol of freedom and hope throughout the story, and when Guy first takes flight in it is at first appears to indicate that he ahs achieved some sort of escape. His decision to plummet to his death once again turns this symbol on its head, however, showing that there is no real escape and thus no reason to hope -- dreams and symbols are false in the Haiti of Danticat's...
There is nowhere for Guy to fly to in the stolen hot air balloon, and nothing that can be done with the balloon except to look down on all of the people looking back at up at him and dreaming. Rather than continuing to live with and encourage these false dreams, Guy commits suicide and so shows the ultimate hopelessness of life as a Haitian.
The final irony in the story comes when Little Guy recites his lines over his father's body. He did not learn his lesson, but continues to hope and even to revere his father as a proud and revolutionary figure. Little Guy doesn't realize that his father's death was a testament of his failure as a revolutionary, just as the revolutionary heroes of Haiti's history had failed. The recitation was fitting, but for the wrong reasons.
